


The last of us - proud of you kiddo

by Nat (Art_lover_Lina)



Series: The last of us [1]
Category: The Last of Us
Genre: 1 year after the events of tlou, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Creeps - Freeform, Ellie almost dies, Ellie cares, Ellie is amazing, Ellie takes care of Joel, Ellie tlou, Ellie's killing spree, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gore, Healing, Joel cares, Joel is badass, Joel is hurt, Shooting, The Last of Us - Freeform, Violence, badass ellie, dark characters, ellie williams, hunters are assholes, hunters are creeps, injured joel, joel miller, killing intent, not romantic - Freeform, not sure if it was the / symbol to imply family relationship, the last of us side story, they are both bad at feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25104661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Art_lover_Lina/pseuds/Nat
Summary: Joel has been hurt, Ellie is taking care of himlong story short they are attacked and Ellie has to protect Joel <3
Relationships: Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Series: The last of us [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818235
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	The last of us - proud of you kiddo

**Author's Note:**

> Info:  
> 1.- 1 Gallon = 3.78 Liters, an average adult has 4.5-5.5 liters of blood in their bodies, it differs depending on height and weight  
> 2.- 20 Feet = 6.096 Meters, 1 Feet = 0.3048 Meters  
> 3.- The places Joel took Ellie to visit: -Las Vegas to see the (now fallen) monuments and casinos. Mount Rushmore faces in South Dakota and a couple of museums in the city before returning to Wyoming.  
> (it wasn’t much, but remember there’s a lot of travel between all those places, so there was plenty of time and things for Joel to show Ellie, I just thought those would be funny places Ellie would be laughing at, given the environment she grew up in and it would be an excuse for them to strengthen their father-daughter-I’d-kill-the-world-for-you bond.)

**_I don’t own these characters, I’m just using them for the sole purpose of torturing myself as I love them way too much._ **

**_Also, I have yet to play the second game, so there can’t possibly be any spoilers here._ **

**_Ellie is 16 and Joel is supposed to be between 48-52 years old, there’s not a clue as to how old he really is._ **

“Hey Oldman” Ellie smiled weakly, trying to look brave for Joel’s sake, “I got us some rabbit and an old can of peaches for lunch”.

Joel, remained as he had for the past couple of days, unmoving, his face was no longer looking dead-pale, as he laid on the bloody mattress Ellie was able to find and drag to the basement they hid in.

It had not been an easy fight.

Some hunters had not been happy to share their “property” when they caught Joel and Ellie preparing their next meal. It wasn’t long before their arrogant behavior and Ellie’s explosive nature collided into those bastards bringing out their guns and hurting Joel, badly.

**-**

**_Two days before_ **

_“Kiddo, just go I’ll catch up with you don’t worry” Joel said holding his side, which was soaked in blood, he knew he wasn’t going to make it this time, but Ellie could still get away if she just left him, “come on, just…I will be there I promise”._

_“No” Ellie fought him, tears already streaming down her rosy cheeks, she could see it in his eyes, Joel wasn’t thinking on fighting this time, he was tired and severely injured and there was nothing she could do._

_“I promise, go back to that house we saw on the hill three days ago, I’ll get there somehow” he continued to push her away, to run, the hunters weren’t far away he could hear them as they ran on the snow even when they tried to keep quiet, Joel heard them as clearly as he listened to Ellie’s panic filled breathing._

_“Promise, for god’s sake Joel, you better not be lying or I’ll come back for you” Ellie ran as fast as she could through the woods, till she reached a tree, with low enough branches for her to climb._

_It was perfect, her mind formed a plan in no time. She climbed till she reached a branch thick and steady enough for her to lay on and wait for those bastards to come._

_She had perfected her aim with the help of Joel and the numerous times she’d faced death, fighting the infected on their journey to the fireflies._

_Ellie waited patiently, she first noticed Joel stumbling, barely walking, he looked half dead already, which made her want to jump down and help him, but she knew that wouldn’t help, she needed to wait for those ‘fuckers’ so she could kill them all for what they did to him._

_A couple of minutes later, Joel was met with a loud bang and a bullet that hit dangerously close to his ear and into the tree he was resting upon._

_Ellie’s blood boiled with anger, she readied her bow and aimed in the direction from where the sound had come from, until the man entered her line of sight, ending on him lying dead on the ground less than 3 seconds later._

_The remaining three hunters missed Ellie’s position high up on the tree, but Joel didn’t. He smirked looking right at those bastards once they came in sight, “get them kiddo” he said knowing merely seconds later Ellie’s arrows would pierce their hearts, killing them._

_Joel maintained his position, resting his body against a tree, as he waited for Ellie to come down._

_He was scowling both in worry and in pain, “Why don’t you ever listen!” Ellie scoffed at him, putting Joel’s arm around her shoulders helping him up._

_“You’re welcome” she mumbled, looking at his side, cursing at all the blood that seemed to have already come out of Joel’s body._

_“That was amazing by the way” Ellie said, imitating his way of talking, making Joel smile. She laughed at his scowl-smiley face, which made Joel laugh and then cough in pain at his throbbing side._

_“I’m sorry” Ellie wanted so badly to be stronger so she could carry Joel to safety, “just don’t die on me, please, Joel” her voice broke. It was only once they reached the house that Joel passed out listening to Ellie screaming his name desperately, his heart ached not being able to tell her it was okay, ‘you’re amazing Ellie, you’ll be fine on your own’ he thought as his vision darkened._

-

Joel’s bleeding had stopped, which meant the bullet had not pierced a major blood vessel or that he’d already painted the forest with enough liters of blood.

Ellie tried her best to keep her composure, she apologized as she dragged his body into the house. Her tiny arms straining as she used all of her strength and the adrenaline rush from earlier to take him down the stairs, to the basement.

It wasn’t completely disgusting down there, there were even a bunch of things she could use to keep them warm and treat Joel’s injuries.

“I’ll be right back” she ran upstairs looking for food and supplies, they hadn’t already taken, clothes and a mattress to lay Joel on.

She carried it with great effort back into the basement, cursing at Joel as she had to carry his ‘dead’ weight onto the mattress.

“Fuck, fuck” Ellie breathed raggedly, “oh god, Ellie calm down, remember the steps”

“First check for an exit wound” she moved quickly to turn Joel a bit to the side, she lighted up his shirt, sighing in relief as Joel’s voice sounded on her head ‘good, there’s an exit wound that’s a good thing’.

‘Not so good, as there are two bullet holes and one is still bleeding’, “though lightly” she replied to the Joel speaking in her mind.

“Okay, next take his shirt off” she used the scissors on her backpack to cut his shirt open, “Joel buddy, you’re getting out of shape” she joked awkwardly so as to forget the fact that he might actually die this time.

Ellie took out the alcohol, rags and a shirt she found, placed them on her side and took out their sewing kit.

She cleaned her hands with the snow outside, “I’m going to begin, sorry if it stings” rubbing her hands together to warm them up a little, Ellie then took the half empty alcohol bottle.

Joel grunted as the alcohol was poured into his wound, the burning sensation mixed with the blood loss made him dizzy, while Ellie stitched him up he passed out.

Ellie waited for hours by his side, for any sign that he’d make it through. It was on the morning of the third day while she checked on his wound, that she began to freak out.

His wound was still flaring red and Joel’s fever was running high. They didn’t have much to work injuries with, the last bottle of antibiotics had been broken last month during a fight with hunters.

She tore open both Joel’s and her backpacks to see if there was anything else she might have missed, anything that might help him.

They had 2 bottles of water, she’d been refiling with snow, a knife, ammo and a bunch of useless things Ellie liked collecting as souvenirs from their trip.

“Nothing!” she screams with frustration, she fumbled with her fingers, twisting her hands in anger at her powerlessness.

“I can’t” Ellie cried, “I can’t loose you too, Joel”.

-

**One week later**

Ellie had set a routine for herself in order to keep her from loosing her mind. She woke up early while it was still dark outside to scan the perimeter for any passerby’s, meaning cannibals or hunters. After an hour or so, sometimes after the first rays of sunlight began giving life to the woods surrounding her, Ellie would walk down to the stream to collect water and freshen up.

After that she’d hunt the day’s meal and hope to find Joel awake every time she went back.

Some days his fever seemed to go down at night, making it easier for her to feed him soup, made out of boiling water with whichever meat she could get her hands on. Thankfully his body had not rejected the food and seemed to be getting better. His wound albeit still red, didn’t seem to be infected and the fever around it was going down.

It was getting late, the sun was going down and Ellie was still trying to find a meal for the day. That morning she’d woken up late after being up all-night taking care of Joel who regained consciousness long enough to complain about the pain on his side, almost opening his wounds by the sudden movement he made induced by the pain.

She wasn’t completely rested so she’d missed the various signs of strangers walking the woods on her way back.

Once she was inside she closed the door and checked on the windows, like every other day, before going down to start the fire so she could at least heat up some water for Joel to drink.

“Is this what that is like?” Ellie asked looking at the water dripping down his cheeks, “taking care of a baby” since Joel was out, she had to take care of everything and that included feeding and cleaning him, the minimum to ensure he stayed alive. Though the feeding was quite a tricky one, she had to put him in an upright position, enough to make him drink and for the “food” to go down his throat, but not too much so as not to hurt his strained body even more or for his stitches to tear.

It was already dark when Ellie heard footsteps outside the house.

Just like Joel had taught her, she had placed traps to alert her of strangers, like glass on the porch and snow surrounding the house, a bell she found, that hung on the inside of the back door that would fall upon opening it, amongst other stuff she’d found. They had to get creative when the other was injured and out, or when they were too tired and needed to really rest without the fear of someone coming in to kill them in their sleep.

All the tiredness disappeared from her body, it immediately shooting adrenaline through her veins, heightening her senses. Ellie grabbed their backpacks and began counting the ammo they have left, 20 bullets for Joel’s revolver, 8 for her pistol, 4 for the riffle, 7 arrows for the bow, no alcohol for a bomb, though she couldn’t risk bringing the house one fire.

“Okay” Ellie took a big breath slowly releasing it, “focus, they cannot find Joel, I need to get out of the house, but I can’t risk them breaking into teams and finding the old man asleep, while I go kill the others”.

Ellie took her backpack, readied her pistol and the riffle, leaving Joel’s gun untouched and in reach should he wake up and find himself in harms way. She took a couple of bricks from the floor, rags in case they managed to hurt her and the hunting knife closing her backpack.

“Ready or not fuckers I’m coming for you”.

-

There were a total of 7 men surrounding the perimeter of the house, two of them had spotted the young girl on her hike earlier and decided to follow her to see if she was in a bigger pack or by herself, and for the looks of it she was on her own.

“Perfect” the big man with a scar on his face said, “Tom you ‘n Jack take the back in case our little girl decides to run”, the two men smiled slicing their machetes into the air as they made their way to their spot.

He then turned to the youngest, “you won’ get a taste this time, is’ been too long since I last had such fresh ‘flesh’ so you go back to camp” they boy grunted, but left reluctantly after receiving a heavy blow to the face, that broke his nose.

“Mark, take Lee n’ go see if she ‘s alone” his smile grew into a wicked one, “we wudn’t want this partay to be interrupted by unwanted visitors”.

“Take a look around the woods and report back” said the man who’d kept quiet while Chief ordered the others around. He shared the same aura around him, depraved and sick.

“Just leave some for us Chief” Lee said, licking his lips.

Chief waved his hand in annoyance, letting them know to scatter away. He took his axe resting it on his shoulders as he approached the front door.

*creaking noises* made him look down to his feet, “fuck! da bich kno’s we’re he’r”.

The man on his side rolled up his sleeves, his left hand ready with a hunting knife as the other one reached for the doorknob.

-

Ellie was glad, they’d grown used to not light up anything after it got dark unless it was completely and utterly necessary, which gave her the advantage of her sight being already more used to the dark surrounding her.

She wrapped the blankets around Joel making it look more like a corpse in case someone came down to take a look before she could kill them.

With trained expertise in walking lightly on her feet she made her way up the creaking stairs with little to no sound. The basement was connected to the kitchen, near the back of the house.

She crawled, keeping her body hidden form the light and away from any windows, as she made it to the second floor. Her blood ran cold upon listening to the man speaking outside the door, her hands ready to pull the trigger on sight.

Ellie went to the balcony on the furthest room to the side, to see if she could get a shot to the men in the back before killing those on the front, as they were closer to Joel.

The wood was already rotten and wet from the weather and time, giving out from under her as she pulled the trigger.

“Fuck” she groaned as he body hit the wood and snow beneath, fortunately it had snowed two days before so it wasn’t so hard on her. She moved as quickly as she could in the direction of the woods, as she caught sight of the two men form the back going after her.

The man she’d shot, wasn’t dead, “one bullet wasted, Joel will be so pissed”.

Ellie stopped once she became hidden form the moonlight by the trees, she evened out her breathing in order to listen to the men’s footsteps, concentrating on their shouting and …*bang*.

The loud sound of her riffle being discharged was followed with the wet sound of the bullet piercing through the man’s throat and blood gushing out of him.

“One down, a couple more to go” Ellie smiled as the shape of the other guy came in sight, he was a bigger target which made it easier for her to point and *bang*, “another one”.

The man grunted in pain as his body hit the snow, the bullet had pierced his lungs but he wasn’t dead yet. With great strain he got up swinging his blade in the darkness hoping to find the girl and chop and arm or two off.

“Com…u…bit..h” he was drowning in his own blood, when Ellie came from behind, slicing open his neck with her knife.

“See you in hell mother fucker” she said, kicking him onto the ground.

A loud bang and a *swish* as the bullet pierced through the air next to her, the bullet grazing her ear.

Ellie tripped, falling on her back from the fright.

“She’s here!” a guy shouted from her right.

There were more guys than just the 4 at the house that Ellie had seen, she told herself to move her ass up and ran.

“You can not get out of the woods or else they’ll catch you in an open field” she said to herself, weighting her options, “if I stay in the woods chances are there are more of them behind me”.

Suddenly a bright light was shunned in her direction, “well you luck at that” Ellie said laughing at her own pun, “come on, idiots show me the way to you”.

She placed another bullet in the riffle, aimed and waited for the light to come closer. Once they were 6 meters away she shot at the guy holding the flashlight, rolled on the snow sure that the other guy was the one with the gun and would be wasting his bullets away, shooting in her direction.

Ellie managed to dodge them and took the chance to run behind some trees while the guy reached for the flashlight. She readied the riffle with her last bullet but decided to put it away, choosing the knife instead.

She circled through the trees looking out for any other flashes of light coming form behind as she quietly approached him from behind.

Unluckily for her, she stepped in a trap, that wrapped around her feet, making her hit her head on the ground as it lifted her up.

Ellie had half a second to reach for her pistol, before dropping her backpack on the ground, while holding the knife in her mouth.

The guy had already shot out his gun and had to recharge giving her enough time to aim to his head, killing him.

“Hey! here!” it was a younger boy, he ran in her direction. She couldn’t see him yet, so she could still make it.

Ellie dropped her pistol, taking the knife into her hands, she grunted as she tightened the muscles in her abdomen in order to pull her body up, so her hand could reach the rope and cut it.

She screamed as it took her a couple of tries to cut it before hitting the cold ground. She had enough of hitting her body against the snow for a night. Ellie gathered her things and decided it was time now to ran back to the house.

“There can’t be more than 3 left” she thought, remembering the voices outside the house and the ones she’d killed.

Ellie ran as fast as she could before she was tackled to the ground by one of the hunters.

His big hand punched her on the side of her head, before pushing it against the snow suffocating her while the cold cut her skin on the impact.

Ellie struggled with the weight that was on her upper back, as the boy sat on her restraining any movements from her arms, making her unable to stand.

“Fuck you!” she shouted in anger, the man above her only laughed saying something about waiting for the Chief before he could.

She fumbled around beneath his grasp, until her fingers felt the cold blade of her knife, “yeah, well I don’t think I will wait for anyone”.

Ellie knew she couldn’t hurt him enough, while being under him with her arms restrained, so she switched the knife in her hand, her elbow hurt but with everything she had Ellie stabbed the man on his ankle, proceeding to lifting up her chest from the snow the moment his weight was destabilized. Her hand was still holding the knife when she turned, pulling it out from his ankle and into his chest as she jumped him.

Her face was red with blood from the tiny cuts she got form the snow and blows she’d received, Ellie cursed him as she stabbed him repeatedly until she was sure he wouldn’t be able to stand and hurt her anymore.

She notices the lights on the house were still off so it was a good guess that the men never got in, instead choosing to go after her, which made her feel guilty.

“They must have spotted me earlier” she cursed as she walked her aching body back to the house, “it’s all my fault”

“Joel, please be okay” Ellie whispered.

The front door was open, but there were no boot prints inside which was a good sign, she looked back out before closing the door. Ellie picked up the basket the was lying on the floor, placed in the remaining pieces of broken bottles back in and placed the “sound alarm” in its former position.

Checking the windows and back door, she hurried down the stairs to where Joel awaited for her.

“Please don’t be dead” Ellie’s hands were shaking, she placed the backpack on the floor next to the mattress, brought out a bottle of water and with shaky fingers proceeded to uncover Joel’s body.

“Oh fuck” she sighed in relief seeing as he was still breathing, even wearing one of his signature scowls, “even in your sleep you can tell when I’ve fucked up”.

Ellie took a rag soaking it with water, before placing it on Joel’s forehead, “this will help with the fever”.

“I’ll be back, just gotta make sure there are no more of those idiots and I’ll…” *crash* the sound alarm crashed onto the floor.

“Fuck!” Ellie could hear two sets of footsteps, they stomped inside the house yelling threats and other revolting ideas on what they were going to do to her.

Ellie readied her pistol, “Still got 6 bullets left” she thought, “I can do this”.

‘I can’t wait for them to come down and use Joel against me’ her mind was already wearing her down, it had been a stressful week and she had yet to sleep properly, besides being hit on the head multiple times in one night.

‘The adrenaline in my blood won’t be of much help, for too long’ she rubbed her nose, breathing in and out a couple of times in order to calm down.

-

“Dat lil’ bitch!” Chief ragged scream was filled with bloodthirst, “Kayne don’ kill ‘er! I wanna take mah time while I have her”

Kayne nodded, kicking away the remains on the sound alarm letting their ‘victim’ know, they didn’t care if they were alerted of their intrusion.

“No worries” the big man, cracked his knuckles, walking inside the house first.

Kayne weighted his knife on his hand playfully ready to puncture the girls’ ‘sweet flesh’ with it. he couldn’t contain his excitement as he could already taste the flavor of her blood in his mouth.

“I’ll see if she’s up here” Kayne pointed as Chief walked inside the house, looking around the first floor.

“Com kitty, les play” Ellie could hear the smile in his voice, sending chills up her spine.

She was at the top of the stairs debating whether or not to open it and fight them in her own. It was not like Joel would be of any help, but she was afraid.

*cough* “El-li-e” Joel called for her.

She almost tripped on her feet as she ran down the stairs to his side, “Joel, oh fuck, you’re” tears began streaming down her face in joy and relief.

His big calloused hand reached up to cup her cheek, catching her tears, “don’t worry baby girl, I ain’t going nowhere”

Ellie whimpered a smiled cracked open on her saddened face, “you have to stay quiet”.

Joel looked at her with worry, “there are hunters in the house and I’m going to take care of them, just” he wanted to protest but Ellie asked him to trust her, “wait for me, I’ll be back soon”.

“Be careful Ellie” Joel smiled, looking at his kid, determination in her eyes as she got up, gun in hand ready to kill the intruders.

The door was kicked down, “’ere u are” the man was smiling wickedly as he scanned the room for the girl.

“Fuck!” Ellie looked for her pistol, but the man was already next to her, his big hand closing on her shoulder as he shoved her away.

“Ellie!” Joel called for her, seeing as she was tossed away like a rag doll, her head hitting the wall on impact.

Chief threw his axe away, walking over to where the girl ‘Ellie’ had landed, “such a prett-ty lil’ name, E-L-I-E” his bog body hovered over hers, blocking Joel from her sight.

“Don’ cha worry” he said in a sweet tone, his fingers caressing her hair, “I won’t kill ya, just yet” his smile showed his rotten teeth, making her want to pull away and throw up, but she was literally being pinned against the wall.

“Don’t you dare touch her!” Joel screamed shooting the man’s heart, though he didn’t seem to budge.

Chief’s body was built with incredibly thick muscle, the bullet pierced through his scapula but it did not reach his heart.

Joel cursed as the man quickly threw his over sized body over him. Those big hands closed on Joel’s neck too quickly, taking his breath away.

“NO!” Ellie screamed, “You fucking disgusting baldie, I’ll kill you!” she could practically hear Joel’s throat being crushed. She ran towards the axe, swinging it down onto the man’s skull.

Blood gushed out of the wound, painting the mattress scarlet red, as his brain matter fell upon Joel’s face.

“Ugh, take him off” his voice was cracked and dry, but at least he could speak.

Ellie pushed the giant off Joel with disgust, her arms circling around his waist as she cried in relief, “don’t scare me like that”.

“Go-tt-a say t-he- sa-me” Joel spoke with difficulty, but smiled anyway knowing it would comfort Ellie in some way.

Ellie had forgotten about the other man, until she heard him calling for the dead bastard next to them, “Chief! Are you okay?” heavy steps were heard from the room on top of them, he was coming down to finish what ‘Chief’ had started.

Ellie went over to get her backpack to get her pistol, but Joel stopped her giving her his gun in time for Ellie to shoot 5 rounds on Kayne as soon as his head popped up on her sight.

Her entire body was shaking, she was exhausted and terrified.

Joel brough her closer, circling his arms around her, “it’s all right now” he hugged her until she passed out from exhaustion.

He soon followed her into the dream world, after a couple of hours waiting for anymore intruders to come.

-

The next morning Ellie woke up first. Her entire body ached, her face, limbs, torso, she was sure that man had given her a concussion after throwing her against the wall, which was now painted with red, though she couldn’t be entirely sure if the blood was hers or Chief’s.

Ellie got up, groaning in pain as she did so, her jacket was torn, her clothes were covered in blood, she looked around the room, “at least he is okay” she thought, looking for her backpack.

“I’m going to come back in a bit” she whispered to Joel, not wanting to wake him up, “gotta check if there are more coming and get us some food for the day, seeing as we might need to move soon”.

Joel grunted in his sleep, making Ellie smile.

She wasn’t gone for too long, but she was met with a frightened Joel.

“Where the fuck were you?” he asked with rage, making his hoarse throat hurt even more and Ellie more concerned seeing him like that.

She hurried by his side, “sorry I had to see if there were more men”.

Joel scowled, but she didn’t let him speak, placing a wet towel on his face, “just wait until after you’ve eaten something before you continue speaking old man”.

“Can’t have your condition becoming worse now that you’re finally up”.

Ellie gathered the wood she’d gotten from chairs form the house and started the fire inside the same metal bucket she’d been using to cook during their stay here.

She took out a pot and filled it with water and the meat she’d already prepared from the rabbit she’d hunted minutes ago.

Joel watched her work, his chest hurt from his wounds and the fact that there had been a giant crushing it hours before, but it also swelling with pride, Ellie sure was amazing.

“Don’t strain yourself too much” She warned him, “you need to sit up so I can feed you”.

Joel’s eyes opened in horror, “no way” he was so embarrassed, “I can eat alone just fine”.

Ellie laughed, “I’ve been taking care of you for the past year, I’m pretty sure feeding you is the lest embarrassing thing I’ve had to do”, he blushed remembering how this was the second time he’d gotten severely injured, having to rely on Ellie to take care of him.

He sat up too quickly in his mortification, making him hold back a scream knowing all too well his throat wouldn’t take well the strain.

“Just take it” Ellie handed him a pot with some ‘soup’ in it, “and don’t say anything about the flavor either” she’d already tasted it, it sucked.

Joel smiled, the water was mixed with a bland taste of rabbit barely there and since his throat would bitch about it, his portion didn’t have any meat to taste in it. it was terrible, but he thanked the warm feeling as it made its way down his throat.

“Thank you” he said in a low tone, childishly hoping Ellie wouldn’t hear him as he knew this was something else she would be gloating about.

-

**Two months later**

They finally made it back to Tommy’s.

Tommy and Maria were waiting for them, had been worried for some time as the two had not come back on the promised date.

“How was the trip?” Tommy asked his older brother, seeing the exhaustion on his face. Ellie didn’t look so jolly either.

“Let’s talk about it once I get cleaned up” Joel answered dryly.

Their clothes were once again covered in blood, though this time it had been from clickers. They had run into them in a ghost town a week ago, the whole thing had been messy and they’d cut it too close one too many times.

“Was the adventure worth it?” Maria asked with a smile.

Ellie chuckled, “hell yeah!” she said too excited, though seeing the exhaustion on Joel made her dial her excitement down to a “yeah it was”.

It had been an adventure Joel had confessed he’d wished he’d taken Sarah onto once upon a time. A trip to around a couple of cities just the two of them, anywhere his kid would’ve wanted.

Though him and Ellie had already done so, just last year, being just the two of them for so long had made it awkward for Ellie to be in a town with other people as well. So, after a while, she’d taken a map drawn some circles here and there and taken it to Joel.

_“I wanna go on a trip” she’d been so excited, it was going to be just the two of them once again._

_They’d visit some states they’d yet been to and he could tell her all about this world he grew up in. a beautiful world, filled with weird ‘shit’ as Ellie liked calling it were the infection had yet to destroy it all._

“Wanna hear about it” Ellie said with excitement. Maria nodded taking a chair for her and Ellie, placing them in front of the fire.

“Okay, so first he took me to this place called “Las Vegas”, that had all of this crazy places that were casinos were people threw away their money…”

Ellie spent the night telling them about all the places and stories Joel had shown her, until she passed out from exhaustion on her chair.

Joel chuckled to himself, when he found her, mouth open and drooling on the blanket Maria was covering her with.

“Thanks, I got it from here” he said his goodnights to his brother and sister in law.

He scooped Ellie’s body in his arms, carrying her back to her room.

Tommy feeling tears rolling down his eyes, seeing their interaction, “I always think about Sarah when I see them together” he confessed, “I know she’d be glad her daddy finally found a semblance of happiness”.

“Something good to fight for”.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this one shot <3<3<3  
> please leave kudos and comments  
> and also if you'd like to check my art, my insta is @Lina.0_07


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